Risus: The Anything RPG

For some, Risusis a handy “emergency” RPG for spur-of-the-moment one-shots and rapid character creation. For others, it’s a reliable campaign system supporting years of play. For others still, it’s a strange little pamphlet with stick figures. No matter what you think it is, there's no wrong way to play.

For newcomers: note also that Risushas been translated to Belarusian, Korean, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Croatian, Dutch, Czech, Polish, Japanese, Chinese, Esperanto, Thai and Russian; check out the Risus fan-community for those and so much more!

Need an adventure right away? Toast of the Town and Slimes in Blossom Grove are free modules for Risus! Want to play but don't have a group? Ring of Thieves is a free solitaire module for Risus! Need a campaign-scaled module focused on repeatedly murdering Santa Claus? No? I guess that makes sense, but that's what A Kringle in Time is, anyway! Love Risusso much you just want more? The Risus Companion is your gateway to the International Order of Risus (and really, just a groovy good time).

IOR #276 here... Can’t wait to get the new updated version of the Companion (although I’ve bought mine many years ago prior to this new website). I’ve recently saw videos on YouTube about how to put the “isekai” genre with tabletop rpg instead of video games. What do you think of an isekai story which works on the Risus game mechanics?

Asher GJuly 24, 2018 1:45 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Is there a way to download a PDF file or something? As I'm on mobile and it won't let me view the zip file :(

S. John RJuly 24, 2018 10:25 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

There are free zip-file apps available for nearly all mobile devices (whether iOS, android, blackberry, etc). If you prefer not to run such an app, feel free to contact me at sjohn@cumberlandgames.com and I'll email the game files to you directly and unzipped. Be sure to mention that you're Asher G from this site =)

Asher GJuly 31, 2018 12:38 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Ok, thank you so much! Great game, even if finding communities is kinda hard!

Daniel SJuly 31, 2018 10:34 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Hey Asher! The Risus community is still up and doin' stuff in a few places these days;
The Risusiverse holds a ton of fan works: http://www.risusiverse.com/
The Google+ group is fairly active: https://plus.google.com/communities/103112350476294391123
The Facebook group is active too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1025040777581769/
Risus has a subreddit that gets a post here and there: https://www.reddit.com/r/risus/
And there's a Risus room on the RPG Talk Discord server: https://discord.gg/e6YmmK (may need to message me about getting an updated link if that one expires)

And of course, for official S. John Ross news, he's got;
His blog: https://rolltop-indigo.blogspot.com/
and his mailing list: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/risus/info

I'm likely forgetting some places here and there, but those places are all great places to start!

Joseph RJuly 04, 2018 7:21 am UTC

PURCHASER

IOR member 187. This game, and especially the companion, made me a better GM across all systems. I was young and stupid and had a lot to learn. S. John taught me a lot of it. Thank you.

S. John RJuly 04, 2018 7:28 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Aw

S. John RJuly 04, 2018 11:36 am UTC

PUBLISHER

(That was a totally sincere "You made my day thank you so much right back" sort of "Aw.")

Wind LMarch 02, 2018 3:08 am UTC

Best RPG system that there is--but do you have the skills and the creativity to handle it?
S. John Ross is my hero!

S. John RJuly 04, 2018 7:27 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Thank you so much :)

Sling SJanuary 11, 2018 12:57 pm UTC

PURCHASER

I shiver with antici....pation for the 2nd Edition Risus Companion! I'm gonna try doing the time warp (it's just a jump to the left) and see if I can find a copy in the future.

S. John RJanuary 13, 2018 1:43 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Oh man, yeah! If you snag a future copy, please let me peek. It'll either (A) help speed along my own drafting/testing process or (B) rip a hole in the space-time continuum, either of which would tick a box on my to-do list =)

Jonathan JMarch 06, 2018 5:49 pm UTC

PURCHASER

You're the best person of all time!

Geoffrey WJune 03, 2017 6:23 pm UTC

PURCHASER

So I've been looking around the internet and I've found other versions of Risus. I also notice that this version has removed some things. Like the Funky Dice rules.

Any particular reason for that? The Companion, for instance, sometimes references rules that are not present in this edition.

S. John RJune 07, 2017 6:04 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Hi! Thanks for asking! Funky Dice rules will always have a home on the Risus site at http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus-funkydice.htm - the Risus Companion 2nd Edition is forthcoming and will be a 100% free upgrade for those with the current Companion. It'll include not only updates to the articles and references, but also a big wobbly pile of additional material.

I like the Funky Dice rules a lot; they were just a kind of evolutionary blind alley for Risus at the core level. Still as good as ever in the right context, though! The new Companion is in development and playtest. If it rocks hard in playtest it moves on to blindtest later this year.

S. John RMarch 14, 2019 5:13 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Update: you can now find them at http://risusfunkydice.cumberlandames.com - which currently leads to Brent Wolke's most excellent blog (which contains quite a lot of cool settings for Risus, among other delights), but this way the link will stay flexible if it ever moves again (hopefully it can find a comfy home at Brent's place and not eat all the cheese from the fridge).

and if that doesn't work the direct link is http://www.truckeegames.com/2019/03/extra-resources-funky-dice.html

And if that doesn't work just Google RISUS FUNKY DICE and that should find it wherever it ends up =)

Geoffrey WMarch 19, 2019 3:51 am UTC

PURCHASER

Yep. That worked. Thanks.

So, hey, it's goin' on two years since I asked. How's that 2nd edition coming along?

S. John RMarch 19, 2019 4:14 am UTC

PUBLISHER

The new Companion continues to come along faster than the original Companion did. But if you weren't here for that: that means lots of years of me reassuring people that it'll never be rushed =)

Don't worry. It'll never be rushed!

Chris KFebruary 01, 2016 1:13 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Great to see Risus here on DTRPG. Cannot recommend too highly. Really wonderful little system, fun and fast. easy to learn, easy to teach. Couple of dice, a pencil, a few scraps of paper - things we all carry at all times - you can be ready to play anywhere in minutes ( the rules are simple enough to just remember - even at a bar ). It may change the way you approach whatever other rule-set you use too.

Robert BJanuary 08, 2016 2:56 am UTC

Actually I'm kind of shocked it took this long to show up here. One of the classics of RPGing, a game you can set up and run in minutes and an amazing level of fun. Read it, it will change your life (maybe somehow.. ok not 100% on that last statement.. I'm like 80... 60% yeah I'm 60% on that.)

Light and flexible and fun. You can use it with many different genres, personally I think it leans a little to the light and humourous, but I ran a medium-serious supers game with it online. The PDF is formatted very nicely and the tex [...]

Risus: The Anything RPG is fun, fast and simple, and yet you can play a lot of things with it ! While written with a lot of humorous wit, it can be used (I have done it) for very engaging roleplay ! It's free, hav à look ! [...]

Risus is far more than an emergency tool: it's a flexible, simple and tactical system which manages to strip the RPG genre from all its dangly bits and leave only the innermost mechanical skeleton. Effectively, all other RPGs work on the same basis as [...]

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